Junior fair auction bidders enjoy giving back
COSHOCTON – Joe Uher has been a long time supporter of the Coshocton County Fair. He and his wife Cathy both had 83 entries in this year’s event, but their involvement didn’t stop there. On Thursday evening Oct. 3, they were in Hunter Arena reading over the auction books to see how they could help local youth during the junior fair auction.
“I’ve lived here all my life,” Uher said. “When I was a kid people supported me so I want to pass that on. I don’t think we’ve missed an auction in a long time.”
He had kids in 4-H and FFA and Cathy’s children were in 4-H. They also were both advisors.
“I was in 4-H with both of their kids,” said Sally Ellis from Pearl Valley Cheese.
She and her husband Chuck started a new fund this year called Friends of the Coshocton County Junior Fair Livestock Auction. The fund is an established pool of money with the goal of increasing the overall sale prices at the auction.
“Most of what we do will probably go to that,” Joe said. “We just want to help where we can.”
Kyle Hamilton, president of The Home Loan Savings Bank, said the auction is a good community event to be part of.
“The kids put a lot of hard work into their projects and we want to support that,” he said. “We get a lot of letters (from kids) and we try to support those whose families support us.”
Hunter Farms, which is operated by June and Drew Hunter, purchased the grand champion dairy feeder calf sold by their granddaughter Michaela Greten.
“It seems like there is less and less interest in the auction every year,” June said. “We’ve got to support our young people.”
The Hunters plan to keep Greten’s calf. June said it weighs 647 pounds, but should finish off around 1,500 pounds.
“We know all the money is going toward her college,” June said. “We bid where we can to help the kids out. They spend a lot of time on these projects.”
Jeff Drennen carried on his tradition of bidding on the grand champion steer. He appreciates the hard work of all the youth who bring livestock projects, but feels the steers are special.
“It’s the highlight of the sale,” Drennen said. “They require so much more work.”
The grand champion he purchased this year belonged to Montana Seitz.
“Seventeen years ago when I came to this town people told me about the fair and how important it was to the county and community,” Drennen said. “I loved it the first time I came. The community supports my businesses here and in Muskingum County and I need to support the community as well. We give back where we can. It’s our duty.”
Mary Elson was also at the sale of champions and purchased the supreme llama product for $2,600. Elson was married to Mike Elson whose daughter, Michaela raised llamas. Both Mike and Michaela passed away from cancer, as did Michaela’s mother many years ago.
“I bought this in memory of Mike Elson and Michaela Elson,” said Mary. “It’s going to a good cause. They don’t sell the llamas, so the product they sell here is the money they make for the llamas.”
In her package, Mary received items made from the wool of llamas, a few children’s books, and two llama bag chairs.
Editor’s note: Reporter Beth Scott contributed to this story.
Category: People & Places
